


You Don't Count

by McCrying



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, M/M, albus is introverted, almost i guess, but scorpius is allowed to be there, he needs to be alone, i wrote this in like 15 minutes rip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 18:45:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9561941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/McCrying/pseuds/McCrying
Summary: Albus can only take a certain amount of human interaction per day before he starts to feel overwhelmed. Even spending time with one person seems to test his limits.However, Scorpius is an exception to his alone time.





	

It was 2pm when Scorpius gave up on trying to clean his room and decided to text Albus. His room was mostly tidy, considering that it was a complete pigsty in the morning – a characteristic that not many seemed to believe he had – and he wasn’t allowed to use magic to clean it up – a form of punishment from his mostly amused father. However, there were still a few text books and some clothes scattered around his bedroom floor and Scorpius could not see the point in cleaning up. He knew he was going to take the books out of their shelf within the next few days, and those clothes weren’t even dirty and he would wear them again, so why would he bother putting them away?

‘Are you doing anything tonight?’ Scorpius’ text to Albus read. Both of the boys had decided that mobile phones were a much more efficient manner of communicating than owl postage. Honestly, who has the patience to make plans if it takes 30 letters sent across the country? No, this was definitely one thing that the Muggles had right in Scorpius’ opinion.

It took roughly 4 minutes for Albus to reply, Scorpius abandoning the bits of paper on his desk and pouncing on his phone at the familiar ding.   
‘not rly... family was over for like 50 ppls bdays :// but they just left’ Albus replied. Scorpius rolled his eyes at the lack of any sentence structure in his best friend’s words. There was another short ding from his phone and Scorpius looked down to read another text from Albus.  
‘I was sorta planning on spending the night watching movies alone... cause u kno how ppl make me feel :|’ 

Scorpius was a little upset that his friend wanted to be alone, but it was something that he was used to. Albus always got worked up in crowded areas, not knowing what to do or who to talk to and the constant bombardment of people asking questions about his schooling and social life drained him of all his energy and towards the end of the day he was often functioning on sugar and occasionally coffee. Scorpius had confiscated many cups of coffee from Albus late in the afternoon, complaining that he won’t be able to sleep that night.

Feeling rejected from his own best friend, Scorpius simply sent back a ‘lol enjoy your recovery time, loser’ before sighing and turning back to his pile of ‘not dirty not clean’ clothes. It was ten minutes and a wild hunt for some coat hangers later when Scorpius was interrupted, yet again, by his phone. It was another text from Albus.  
‘U can join me if you wan’ 

Scorpius was unsure whether to be excited about the fact that Albus was actually inviting him over to spend time in his ‘Albus meditation mode’ or rather be concerned at the use of both ‘u’ and ‘you’ in Albus’ text. Either way Scorpius sent a reply back in under three seconds.  
‘Are you sure? Don’t you need your ‘alone time’ away from people???’   
‘You don’t count as a person.’ That was the most grammatically correct sentence Scorpius had ever received from Albus. His heart never felt warmer.

 

One hasty Floo Network travel later and Scorpius found himself in the Potter’s lounge, a startled Harry Potter staring at the child that just appeared in his fireplace. Before Scorpius could explain himself to the man, Albus burst into the room, yelling unnecessarily loudly.   
“Is it okay if Scorpius comes over, Dad?!” Albus basically screeched. Harry looked over to his son, who still hadn’t noticed the lanky, soot covered blonde standing awkwardly in front of the fireplace.

“I guess I can’t say no,” Harry said, an amused smile gracing his face as he made a pointed look in Scorpius’ direction. Scorpius wasn’t even able to mutter a hello before the shorter boy bounded his way over to his best friend and embraced him in a bone crushing hug. 

Scorpius didn’t say anything as they made their way to Albus’ (not so subtly Slytherin themed – what a nerd) bedroom. Scorpius loved Albus’ bedroom, for he was also a Slytherin nerd. 

Albus sputtered some excuse about the hug being due to PTSD from the earlier family visit. Scorpius didn’t complain. He simply rose his eyebrows and hummed as if he were teasing the boy. The blush that spread across Albus’ cheeks was one that would be engraved in Scorpius’ eyes forever. 

It was moments like these where Scorpius was most content. Moments where he was sat next to his favourite person in the world, the need for conversation non-existent as a movie that neither of them were watching was playing in the background. Scorpius knew his place at times like these. He didn’t talk, move and he barely breathed, as he tried to make Albus more comfortable, especially after a social gathering like that of the one in the morning. So it was a rather large shock to Scorpius when Albus reached over and grabbed his hand, interlacing their fingers. 

“You know you don’t have to pretend that you’re not here,” Albus whispers to Scorpius, giving his hand a light squeeze.  
“I thought you wanted to be alone,” Scorpius replied. He returned the hand squeeze, trying (but failing) to suppress the blood from his cheeks. Albus stared at Scorpius for a moment of two as if he was forming his next words in his brain, polishing them before he let them slip past his lips.

“Well, even with you here I still am alone,” he said. Before Scorpius had any chance to filter what he said and get offended, Albus continued.  
“You see,” he said, pulling Scorpius’ hand onto his lap and fiddling with his fingers, “you are a part of me, Scorpius. When you’re not with me I don’t feel alone. No, it’s more like half of me is missing. I want you to be here with me. I like your presence. I like what you think and I always want you to tell me what’s on your mind. I want to know that you’re there because I don’t feel whole when you’re not.”

Scorpius was bewildered. His breath caught in his throat, and tears pushed their ways up to cover his eyes.   
“Albus –“ he was cut off.

“I love you, Scorp,” Albus hissed. It wasn’t aggressive but impatient. This was something that Albus had thought about a lot, Scorpius realised. Scorpius stared at the boy, trying to understand where this was coming from. Was there an incident in the gathering this morning? He wondered. No matter, the words that Albus just said etched their way into Scorpius’ mind. He loves me. He loves me. In a way this wasn’t surprising. Scorpius knew that Albus liked him enough to share private time with, but perhaps not to this extent. A million thoughts stampeded through Scorpius’ head as he stared dumbstruck at his best friend.

“What are you thinking?” Albus asked, his tone soft. Scorpius gathered all his thoughts and combined them into one. Yes, this is what it meant. The thoughts of confusion about Albus’ sudden outburst, the swelling of his heart, the dropping of his stomach. Scorpius came to a conclusion.

“Just that I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> okay so I wrote another one. I have been feeling heaps motivated recently and i don't even know why.
> 
> but come on, i fully believe that Albus loves being alone but scorpius doesn't count bc they're basically one person anyway amirite.
> 
> Thank you for reading :)))
> 
> sorry for any mistakes I can't be bothered reading over it (not that i've ever proof read any of my work ever lol)


End file.
